We had no plans for today, even though it was after 7 sea days. We docked OK and the first sign that we were near land was that the air smelled differently. We have no idea what that the smell was or where it was coming from, but it was akin to the smell of hot plastic or Perspex.
No alarm clock so we waited until the mad rush had already left before heading up to deck 14 for something to eat. The outside temperature was already over 30 degrees. (Sorry Kiwis and Australians, who may be experiencing chilly weather…) We were joined at the table by Alec & Eileen, who we just seem to meet several times a day anyway, and John Graham, who had been assisting the touring passengers by herding them into the theatre. At times, it must seem like herding cats.
Although most people were ashore, we opted to go to trivia anyway and support the entertainment staff. Although we hooked up with past cruisers Jim & Judy, Lou & Doreen and we got 19/21, we STILL didn’t win.
We went ashore in the heat just to check out the market stalls. A bit of advice here. Never buy at the first stall, as 9 times out of ten, their prices will be higher than stalls further down the line. It was no different here, even without bartering – which we didn’t do anyway. A 100% difference in some children’s wooden puzzles.
Back on board, having spent less than 20 minutes and less than $20US. Why? Well, we’d been to Columbo before and without a ship shuttle to the dock gate, there was nothing outside that warranted a walk outside.
The vexed question of taxis. As you may well see from the photograph at the top of the blog, the first stall along was “Travel Information”. Although they were flogging tours, there were also two or three taxi driver touting for custom.
We are still confused at what the taxi dispute was, but the fact that there were one or two at the wharf, suggests to the cynic, that maybe money changed hands.
We know of four passengers who were charged $20 ($5 each) just to go to the port gates, where they then transferred to Tuk-Tuks, for the usual hair-raising rides for a further $15. Others did manage to hire taxis at varying prices and for varying lengths of tour.
Alex and Teri had opted for a Princess tour/trip to a resort hotel that included a good buffet lunch. On the way either there or back, the coach broke down so they were transferred to another coach for the return. (This always seems to happen to A & T…) When they finally did get the correct dock gate after the driver wrong slotted three times, they still couldn’t get in as the number-plate on the replacement coach wasn’t on the dock official’s list!
Although our American friends, John and Laura were back in time for quiz, sadly, still no win – and far too many purely Australian questions again.
We spent some time watching the action on the adjacent wharf, firstly from deck 7, then from our balcony. Nearest was what could be a flat decked fishing boat, but the crew were enjoying a game of cricket right into darkness. If the ball went over the end – which it did quite often, out would come a long pole with a net on the end. They’d simply fish the ball out and carry on. The final picture is of one of the high pressure water hoses that can be deployed to deter pirates.
On the other side of that wharf, we’d already seen them unload a load of truck chassis, coaches and trucks and throughout the day, the 10 delivery drivers would pile out of a small ute, sprint to the waiting vehicles and drive them away. About 15 minutes later, they’d return and this went on way past the arrival of the next ship. The first shipment was probably from India, as I think they were from ‘Tata’, the Indian company that also owns Jaguar and Land Rover - though these are still built in the UK.
For dinner, 6 of the table ordered NZ lamb shanks and 6 people claimed they were under cooked. (We later found out that several other tables had also complained about them.) They weren’t all that tasty either, so a disappointing meal, which is a first on this cruise.
We departed Columbo during dinner so there was no sailaway gathering on deck 11.
The late theatre show was an English singer, Scarlett Kennedy and although her singing was fine and the musical arrangements were also fine, the show just didn’t have the sparkle of the previous entertainers, so at this stage, a 7.5 from me and I doubt we’d go to a second show.
Clocks are back half an hour again tonight, so that will make it about 7 hours behind NZ time. It also means that the French open tennis gets a bit earlier, though the men’s singles final is tomorrow night and may well clash with dinner, so I guess Paula may be bolting her food or even skipping the dining room altogether.
Four sea days ahead before Dubai, where the temperature is currently about 45 degrees . That is rather warm. Showers are forecast for tomorrow and for a sea day, there is a rather a lot going on, so I may take the afternoon’s list from the patter and publish it tomorrow.
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